Author Archives: Doc

EYG Comic Cavalcade #64

Posted on by

October 22, 2023

Sadly, looks as if I am missing Avengers Inc #2. Not sure where that one was. It was due out last week according to Marvel.com

Lots of good books this week. Let’s just jump in to it:

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #1. Written by Brian Buccellato and art by Christian Duce. Drew Johnson and Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. I liked the match up with the monsters and the JL, but this felt weird. Did this fit into continuity anywhere? The whole Clark and Lois proposal thing… didn’t that already happen? Maybe I shouldn’t worry about continuity in DC, but as a Marvel guy, I prefer when it meshes up. Is this an Elseworlds? Will we ever know?

Godzilla #3. “A Tale of Two Saviors” Written by Doug Moench and drawn by Herb Trimpe. Speaking of Marvel, in honor of the other series coming out, I picked up an issue from 1977 when Marvel had the Godzilla license. They had the Champions, Hercules, Iceman, Angel and Black Widow taking on Gidzilla outside of San Francisco. I knew where this fell into continuity.

Spine-Tingling Spider-Man #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Juan Ferreyra. A cool issue with Spidey winding up somewhere where no one knows who he is and he is being pursued by some horrific creatures. No powers either! Beautiful interior art.

Omega the Unknown #9-10. Steve Gerber wrote both of these issues. In fact, they list him on the cover as the “author of Howard the Duck.” I wrapped up the ten-issue Omega series. I really enjoyed the path through and I will be heading to the “conclusion” of Omega’s story in the pages of an old issue of Defenders. This series had a distinct feel to it, different than what we were used to in the Marvel Universe while still being planted firmly in continuity. I’ve used that word a few times already today.

Crypt of Shadows #1. Five short stories featuring Scarlet Witch, Hulk, Deadpool, Daredevil and Werewolf by Night. Narrated by Victor Strange, who is on his way to the pages of Dr. Strange. This was a fun Halloween special that highlights the weird corner of the Marvel universe.

Klik Klik Boom #5. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Doug Dabbs. Klik Klik Boom wrapped up after a really enjoyable five-issue run. Sprout found some secrets and kicked some massive butt. I do hope that this series receives another arc sooner rather than later.

The Sensational She-Hulk #1. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Andres Genolet. Jen Bartel did the cover art. This started the She-Hulk series over at a number one, but feels exactly like the previous She-Hulk series. Still had the Punch Club. Jack of Hearts. Law work with Mallory Book. Not sure why it needed to be a new number one (yeah, I know why…$$$)

Daredevil #2. “Introductory Rites” Part Two. Written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Aaron Kuder. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marco Menyz did the cover art. Father Matt continues his conflict with his past life as Daredevil. And someone close to Matt has sicced the police on the church where he is working. Ben Urich? What’s up with that?

Big Game #4. Written by Mark Millar and drawn by Pepe Larraz. Watching all of Millar’s characters come together only to get butchered is really a hoot. Everything seems to be coming to a huge conclusion next issue and I will be anxious to see if anyone will be left. Maybe they all just die and Millar retires.

Local Man #6. “The Dry Season.” Written and created by Tim Seeley & Tony Fleecs. Art was by Tony Fleecs. Local Man returns with his next story arc which starts off with a shoot out at Auntie Inga’s. There always feels like there is more than what you can see going on with Local Man.

Astonishing Iceman #3. “Out Cold” Part Three. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was done by Jesus Saiz. Iceman faces off with the Orchis forces led by Mister Clean. Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Rails is right there to help. Fun with the Omega mutant. Next issue includes the Amazing friend, Spider-Man!!!

Invincible Iron Man #11. “The Honeymoon is Over” Written by Gerry Duggan and guest artist is Andrea Di Vito. Kael Ngu did the cover art. Tony Stark and Emma Frost are on their honeymoon. Unlike most couples, this entails Tony going on a covert mission to Krakoa in search of some of the special metal.

Incredible Hulk #5. “Riddle of the Man Thing.” Part Two. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by guest artist Travel Foreman. Hulk continues his adventure in the Nexus of Realities with the Man-Thing. Honestly, I was not a fan of the art in this book and it made it difficult to read.

Deadpool: Badder Blood #5. Story by Rob Liefeld and script by Chad Bowers. Pencils were by Rob Liefeld. This mini-series with Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Venompool joining Deadpool comes to a conclusion with some success. This was a fun team-up book with some excellent characters.

Other books read this week: Ghost Rider #19, Hexagon Bridge #2, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11, Scarlet Witch #9, Grim #14, Moon Knight #28, Antarctica #4, Kill Your Darlings #2, Guardians of the Galaxy #7, Star Signs #5, Black Panther #5, and Tenement #5.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Posted on by

The October 12 of 13

The penultimate film in the October 13th watch was a horror/comedy called Jennifer’s Body, which featured performances from Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried.

This one was up and down for me. There were things that I thought were clever and enjoyable, but there were other aspects of the film that I found disappointing and dumb.

I really liked the relationship between Seyfried’s Needy and her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). I thought that relationship defied the typical relationship you would see in a teen film and I thought they had a rooting interest. I was very unhappy with the resolution of this coupling.

Megan Fox was actually pretty good in this role, even if a lot of it was dumb. Fox as a demon-possessed creature oddly fit.

Unlike some of the other films I have seen lately, this one’s conclusion was much better and provided some satisfaction after much of the disappointment of the story up until this point.

The film was lacking any real funny moments as I may have laughed once. The scares were almost minimal as it just depended on having some blood on Megan Fox or having her make scary faces when she attacked her victims.

The parents and teachers (especially the terrible wigged up version of JK Simmons) were so lost and were lacking in this story at all. Everything was so unbelievable that when the parts that were supposed to be normal is difficult to believe, the fantastical isn’t going to work either.

This is not the worst movie I have watched during the October 13, but it is down the list for sure.

American Horror Story: Murder House S1 E1

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Pilot”

With the mid-season finale of American Horror Story: Delicate airing this week, and with the news that the second half of the season would not be here until some time in 2024, that opned up Sunday morning for something else. This gives me a chance to go back and revisit (or watch for the first time) some of the previous seasons of AHS.

I’m starting first with the season of TV that grabbed my attention and helped make me more of a horror fan. That is season one, which was later entitled Murder House.

When I first watched the show, I was not much of a fan of horror movies. I watched some horror, but that genre was not near the top of my list. Thanks to the wonderful characters and downright creepy nature of American Horror Story, I was more interested in the genre.

Rubber Man is one of the scariest and hauntingly creepy characters on TV and the show was filled with unbeleivable actors providing some of their best work. Jessica Lange is utterly perfect as the neighbor Constance. Evan Peters showed us what a star he would be as Tate, the troubled teen that Ben (Dylan McDermott) was seeing out of his home office. Ben and Connie Britton’s Vivien and their marriage problems were both understandable and warped. Frances Conroy’s Moira, who changed her appearance depending on whom was looking at her… old or young.

This pilot episode does so much to set up Murder House as a sinister location with mysteries and ghosts abounding. Taissa Farmiga helped to kick off her scream queen persona with her troubled Violet.

I love this episode and the whole season only gets more exceptional. I’m excited about watching this every Sunday morning moving ahead.

Saw (2004)

Posted on by

The October 11 of 13

I have never had any interest in the Saw franchise. The torture/gore films do not appeal to me and I have always connected the Saw franchise to that form of movie.

However, I decided that this movie watch, The October 13, I would give the original Saw a try. I had heard that this was the best of the franchise and did not resemble the gore fests of the sequels that followed it. So I added it to the list.

Who would have thought… I liked this a lot.

For me, the film benefited from its cast because it featured Cary Elwes, whom I loved from The Princess Bride, Danny Glover (whose inclusion surprised me), and two of my favorites from LOST, Ken Leung (who played Miles) and Ben Linus himself, Michael Emerson.

The film also did not include nearly as much gore and torture scenes as I expected. It was there, but it was more psychological torture than anything else. It felt like the graphic scenes all were earned and not just tossed in for a gross-out quota.

Unfortunately, I knew the answer to the twist of the film because I had seen the previews for Saw X which was out this year (and I have not seen) and I knew the actor who was behind Jigsaw. I wished I had not known that because it did affect my viewing of this.

Some of the storytelling aspects of the film was confusing, especially the flashback sequences which kept the narrative from being told in a typical structure. While that is usually a cool feature, this caused more confusion as I was not sure when the events were taking place and in what order we were supposed to put them in. Still, I give director James Wan credit for trying to frame the story in a different manner than other slasher films.

I did not like the ending scene of the film as it felt tacked on or unsatisfying. I found that it really stretched credibility of the film that already required a lot of stretching. Plus, I did not like the way they left everything up in the air and how we really do not know the fate of some of the characters involved.

In the end, I was impressed overall with Saw and I am pleased that I watched it. It was a much better film than I thought it was going to be. However, I do not plan on watching any of the other, universally panned sequels that followed this.

American Horror Story: Delicate S12 E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Preech”

The first half of season 12 of American Horror Story: Delicate is done. The mid-season finale dropped the other day and now it sounds as if it will be well into 2024 before the show comes back for the second half of this season.

So it seems as if Ms. Preecher is not the horrific stalker that we thought as she told Dex’s mom that she had given up a baby when she was young to this same cult and she wanted to help protect Dex and Anna’s baby.

Of course, Dex and Anna are having their own issues as Anna confronted Dex about the affair she believed he was having and about how he really did not believe that she was being stalked or, basically, anything that she had been saying since the beginning of the series.

Anna and Siobhan had some trouble when Anna found out that Siobhan was representing Babette Eno, a younger actress in the same Golden Globe category. Anna loses the Globe to Babette, but finds out that she had been decapitated in a car crash. Siobhan has some secrets going on and she is so very sus. She seems to have some ties to the baby stealing cult and those vials of B12 she keeps giving Anna are iffy at the best.

Dex’s dead wife, Adeline, was also connected to the cult somehow. The mysterious Nicolette had some tie to Adeline that we have yet to know. Honestly, if I were Anna, I would have fired Nicolette by now and got her out of the house.

At least Anna is not eating any dead raccoons this episode.

X-Files S1 E10

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Fallen Angel”

“Fallen Angel” is another X-Files episode that I do not remember seeing when it first aired. This is the second of the first season episodes that I do not remember. I had always thought that I had seen all the episodes of the X-Files (at least the ones with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in it. Robert Patrick, not so much). However, this episode did not ring any bells for me.

It did follow a basic concept though. Mulder sneaks into a government something-or-other (in this case, a crash site), gets caught, government conceals whatever it is, Mulder deals with the real issue (usually something with UFOs) and then gets no answer.

This episode featured a man named Max who seemed to be a precursor to the Lone Gunmen. Max was a conspiracy theorist/UFO aficionado with long hair and lots of technical gadgets. Max did have several apparent mental issues which seemed to make him interesting. Sadly, the aliens took him off and we lose Max to the wind (or had his body in a container).

Deep Throat appeared in this episode and saved Mulder from being fired from the FBI. He did the old “Keep your friends close, enemies closer” line in a ominous voice, implying that he may not be the ally that Mulder believes he is.

Oh, and while we had the X-Files meet The Thing a few episodes ago, this one is The X-Files meets Predator. The invisible creature was killing people in the woods and I kept waiting for Mulder to yell out, “Get to the chopper!”

Mulder and Scully vs. the US government is always fun, though they are really lucky that they haven’t been stuck away in a cell somewhere as of yet.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Posted on by

The October 10 of 13

How is a film that is so well-known and iconic this bad?

The Amityville Horror was made in 1979 based on a “true” story. It is one of the most famous haunted house movies of all time. Yet, this was not a good movie.

It was so silly at many times that it undercut whatever tension and anxiety it tried to build into the mood.

I would give credit to James Brolin and Margot Kidder, who played George and Kathy Lutz- the newly married couple who moved into the house where a brutal murder of a family took place. Brolin and Kidder did what they could and they certainly committed to the story. They were not the problem and they may be the reason why this stinker has passed the test of time.

Of course, Brolin’s axe into the bathroom door came a year before Jack Nicholson’s far superior axe job in The Shining. Brolin snapped out of his trans fairly quickly so maybe Jack needs to take some notes from him.

The same could not be said for Rod Steiger, whose performance as Father Delaney was so far beyond over-the-top that his entire screaming monologues become laughable.

The ending was both sudden and ridiculous. George Lutz was a much better person than I am because I would be going dog shopping for a new dog instead of running back into that insanity. And why did he fall into that huge pool of blood? Where did that come from?

It felt as if the film had a bunch of subplots that never really came together in the movie.

It may be iconic, but that does not make it something you should watch again. Bad movie.

Moonlighting S1 E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Next Stop Murder”

This is one of the best episodes of Moonlighting. They brought Agnes DiPesto to the forefront as she winds up winning a space on a murder train. David and Maddie wind up getting stuck on the train too. The Murder Train was meant to be the staged murder, but it turns into a real one. This is another well-known trope in mystery stories but it is around so much because it works.

Miss DiPesto gets a love interest in the shape of actor Vincent Schiavelli. He is quirky and interesting looking and he made a great pair with Agnes. The actor was actually married to Allyce Beasley, who played Miss DiPesto, for a few years.

This actually gives David and Maddie a chance to actually solve the case, well…David in sense. I liked that we got to see that David and Maddie are not always jokes when it comes to their detective careers. They stood out here among a group of wannabe detectives.

As with every train centric episode, they had to climb up to the roof of the train to do battle. They did it in a very Dave/Maddie way that made this a funny exception.

I liked how this episode showed how much Miss DiPesto meant to both Maddie and David and how the eccentric character made such a tight connection with them.

This was a ton of fun and one of my personal favorites in the first season.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on by

The newest epic film from Martin Scorsese was widely released this weekend, based on a true story. The film is entitled Killers of the Flower Moon and it is set just after World War I in Oklahoma and featured the Osage nation.

The Indians of the Osage nation discovered that there was oil beneath their land and they became incredibly wealthy. However, this led to a series of deaths and murders of the Osage people in an attempt to get the land and oil money away from them.

Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returned from the war to go work for his uncle, William “King” Hale (Robert DeNiro). He met up with one of the Osage Indians from the family that owned the land, Mollie (Lily Gladstone), fell for her and married her. There was some inkling early in the film that perhaps he had married her for the oil.

As their life together progressed, other members of her family started dying off in suspicious manners. It became clear that Hale had been calling the shots and had been using Ernest to do his dirty work along with several other men.

I will say that I thought this film was good. I was not as blown away by it as I thought I might be. There are a lot of strong parts of the movie that just have enough problems to keep it from being a masterful film.

One issue is that the film does feel its length at times. Killers of the Flower Moon is nearly three and a half hours long, which is a marathon of a film and it is not brimmed full with action or dramatic moments. It is definitely a slow burn. Even though I think the film works as a slow burn, I do think they could have condensed some of the scenes in the middle to trim off 10-15 minutes and it would be for the film’s benefit.

Another major issue I had is a spoiler so I will have to just touch on it generally. It feels like something that is a creative swing that may work for some people, but that will be a problem for other. I fall into the latter category. This is the conclusion or the wrap up of the story. The way they wrapped up the movie did not work for me at all and I even think it damaged the narrative that had been constructed.

Positives of the film included some excellent acting. Standout performances came from Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro. Lily Gladstone has been called the heart of the picture, and I can see why. She does an amazing job as Mollie, a woman suffering form the pain of losing family members while dealing with her own health issues. You could feel for her constantly as she tried to take strength from her marriage, despite her husband being a conflicted a-hole.

That a-hole was Leonardo DiCaprio, who does a really great job playing this conflicted and manipulated man. Truly, I found my own opinions on Ernest to be filled with hatred as he continued to make poor choices in betrayal of his wife and her family all for the money.

This was the best performance of Robert DeNiro has given in years. His portrayal of William Hale is creepy and full of sinister behavior as he manipulates everyone to do what he wants them to do.

The technical aspects of Killers of the Flower Moon was exceptional. The film looked great and the directorial job from Scorsese is awesome.

This movie is good, but not great. Th length can be an issue, but it is a interesting story with some top notch performances.

3.5 stars

Gen V s1 e6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Jumanji”

Gen V sixth episode was a really great one.

Fallout from last week involving Kate and her mental manipulation of her friends was the main storyline of the show. We got to see a lot of the hidden back stories of Kate as well as the others who wound up inside Kate’s mind.

We saw more involving Golden Boy, including a disturbing realization that Andre and Kate had been having an affair before Golden Boy died.

We saw how Jordan had become Professor Brink’s assistant as she helped stop Golden Boy.

We saw more about Marie and her sister moments after she had accidentally killed her parents.

We saw more about Kate’s background and how she came to be with Dean Shetty.

Oh, and there was a Soldier boy cameo.

But the story of Kate was not the only thing we got tonight. We got Emma and Sam back together and making love.

And we find out that Dean Shetty’s plans were to develop a virus that could kill supes and she wants it contagious.

Whoa.

Gen V has been very compelling and getting better every week. Even week four, which felt like an initial back step for the show, turned out to be better in retrospect.

And with the potential deadly virus being created in the Woods, this could have major impact in the Boys world.

Goosebumps S1 E6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Night of the Living Dummy”

Goosebumps on Disney + continues with some excellent episodes as they reached the episode featuring the dummy that gave nightmares to plenty of kids in the 1980s.

We hear the story of Slappy from the mouth of Mr. Bratt, who is of course possessed by the spirit of Harold Biddle. He tells the kids how Harold came into possession of the dummy and how their parents were involved in his death and subsequent removal of Slappy.

Mr. Bratt became more agitated and disgruntled as he told the story, but the kids were hearing it in a different manner than his own POV. He was becoming irritated that the kids did not share his POV of what happened. His reveal at the end of the episode was well done and made me happy. The possession of Bratt and having him pretend as if things were normal had definitely run its course. I’m pleased that the show took this step because a lot of shows would drag that mystery out for several episodes.

As for Slappy, we have certainly seen this concept before. There were living ventriloquist dolls in The Twilight Zone (Caesar and Willie), Batman the Animated Series (Scarface), and The Ventriloquist Dummy (Hugo). Throw in there dolls such as Annabelle and Chucky, these scary dummy/dolls are used quite a bit. Slappy is a great character to introduce younger kids to this trope.

Will the show be able to make this dummy different from the ones that came before? I hope so, and the show has been doing a great job so far.